Marvin Douglas Hill Sr.

Marvin Douglas Hill Sr.

AMENIA — Marvin Douglas Hill Sr., 86, a longtime area resident formerly of Boston, Mass., died peacefully on Feb. 22, 2022, at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Mr. Hill worked as a professional security guard for Boston City Hospital in Boston for over 20 years. He retired in 1987.

Born July 14, 1935, in Amenia, he was the son of the late Mildred (Carl) and Frederick Hill.

He attended school in Amenia and enlisted in the United States Army, where he served as a military police officer before being honorably discharged.

Mr. Hill enjoyed biking on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, driving to Boston to visit his relatives, nature walks, playing pool, perusing through family photo albums, attending live venues at the Sharon Playhouse especially musicals and plays, listening to R& B music from James Brown, The Dells and The Temptations, good food and going to car shows. He was known as a man of great wisdom, great sayings and had an infectious sense of humor.

He had a very caring heart and often took care of family and friends that were in need at his own expense. He was of the Presbyterian faith and attended church in Amenia for many years with his family.

Mr. Hill is survived by five children, Wanda Hill and Margaret Hill of Virginia, Marvin D. Hill Jr. of Poughkeepsie, Wakeitha Kunze of Boston and Johnetta Lafond and her husband, Hashim, of California; 14 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two sisters, Fredericka Parker of Poughkeepsie and Barbara Young of Princeton, N.J.; his sister-in-law Jeannine C. Hill of Greenwich, N.Y.; his longtime companion, Beth Rhodes of Boston; his dear friend Kate King; and several nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, he was also predeceased by his former wife, Helen Hill; his son, Russell Hill; and his brothers, Kenneth, Porter and Gilbert Hill.

Calling hours will be held on Friday, March 4, from 11 a.m. to noon at the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home in Millerton. Funeral services will take place at noon at the funeral home, the Rev. William Mayhew officiating. Burial will follow at Amenia Island Cemetery in Amenia with United States Army Honor Guards in attendance.

Memorial donations may be made to the Millerton American Legion Post 178, 155 Route 44, Millerton, NY 12546; or VFW Post 5444, Route 22, Dover Plains, NY 12522.

To send an online condolence to the family please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less